The national flag carrier of the Republic of the Congo, ECAir (Equatorial Congo Airlines), opened a new and first international route from the country’s capital Brazzaville to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on 24th August 2012. This marks another milestone in the young history of the airline following many years of fruitful project work with Lufthansa Consulting.

Following the successful development of the domestic route between Brazzaville and the port city of Pointe-Noire with a significant increase in passenger volumes and yield, ECAir now additionally serves an international destination and operates three weekly frequencies on the Brazzaville-Paris route with a Boeing 757-200. On this long-haul aircraft the carrier offers an inflight entertainment system in both business and economy class, as well as full-flat business class seats.

During the cooperation between ECAir and Lufthansa Consulting numerous objectives were achieved. ECAir entered into service with the help of the German aviation experts in September 2011. The consultants managed the complete start-up process preparation including the development of the business plan, network and fleet structure, the overall design concept and adherence to international high quality and safety requirements. ECAir is the only airline operating according to EASA standards in the Republic of the Congo.

In the further course of the project the reservation and e-Retail system Amadeus Altéa Inventory were implemented as well as the handling with IATA-compliant 100% electronic tickets. A loyalty program for loyal clients was also selected and will be available to all passengers already in 2012. Moreover, the important membership in the African Airlines Association AFRAA could be secured for ECAir including participation at one of the region’s major aviation events, the “Regional Routes Africa” conference in July this year. Looking ahead, the regional network development strategy for the future destinations Douala in Cameroon, Cotonou in Benin and Ollombo in the Republic of the Congo, is in preparation and will be implemented soon after the opening of the international route.

“Thanks to the excellent cooperation with our partner Lufthansa Consulting this project is a major success and has become a positive example for the aviation industry in Africa," says ECAir’s Chief Executive Officer Fatima Beyina-Moussa expressing her gratitude for the services rendered during the last years.

“Lufthansa Consulting is proud of the achievements of the team. We are convinced that through our joint project effort and our training services we equipped the ECAir management for the path to success after the completion of our mission“, says Dr. Andreas Jahnke, Managing Director of Lufthansa Consulting.